


Yes, I Think You're Cool

by Uwansumadamboi



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Awkward Crush, Awkward Kissing, Bad Flirting, Boys Kissing, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Rhys is an adorable spaz, Short & Sweet, Teenage Dorks, Vaughn has a crush, Vaughn is socially awkward, bad plays, woes of dating a theater nerd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 01:58:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14885474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uwansumadamboi/pseuds/Uwansumadamboi
Summary: When Vaughn ends up agreeing to go over lines for a romantic part in a cheesy play with Rhys, something happens that might change their relationship forever.





	Yes, I Think You're Cool

**Author's Note:**

> It's rhack month and here i am writing gayperion fanfic. shameful. but also good bc there is...very little gayperion fic.

Vaughn really wished that he didn’t have such a huge crush on the lanky boy in his mathematics class. Because he knew that if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be going over lines for a play that he wasn’t in – and didn’t care to be in, he was way too shy to be in theater doing anything other than set design or working in AV club – with him. 

He couldn’t even pretend that he didn’t understand why he was so infatuated with Rhys – enough so that he was quick to do anything that the other teen asked him to do. whether it was studying, which he was comfortable with, or something like this which he felt a little – or a lot – less comfortable doing.

Because Rhys was tall, smart, attractive and confident with himself – to top it all off, he was just… so nice. Vaughn wasn’t at all sure how he could have not fallen into a head over heels, face first in the pavement kind of crush. When Rhys had approached him – looking nervous with his eyes downcast and a completely nervous aura surrounding him – and asked him for help going over lines, he blurted out a yes before he could even really think about it.

“Dude.” Rhys remarked, snapping Vaughn out of his thoughts about the brunette. “You gotta say your line… um, right after…” he paused, his hand moving over to the printed out script in Vaughn’s hands for a few moment as he looked for it. “Oh! Okay, you’re right here. Right after, ‘Do not go where I cannot follow, Ophelia. Leave me behind and form a new life all your own!’”

Despite it’s many, many, many flaws, Rhys seemed to be very excited about the play for reasons that Vaughn could not understand. He shook his head almost with disappointment, “Jeez, this play really is awful.” he said, with a nervous, squeaky sort of laugh to punctuate his words. “I feel like I’m acting out trash TV with you.”

“Actually it’s a Shakespearean space opera about two sentient robots who fall in love during the zombie apocalypse.” Rhys corrected with a laugh, “…I, actually I kind of love it. Because it’s…well it’s more interesting than most of the things I’ve done in theater this year and we didn’t have enough in the budget to get the rights for anything so…” he said with a shrug, “I mean it’s not great but what do you expect? One of the seniors in creative writing wrote it.”

“I guess that you’re right…” he admitted begrudgingly, looking down back at the script. “Okay, let’s get this over with…” he mumbled to himself before speaking the lines out in a very phoned in sort of way, “But if I stay behind, Soren then who will be there to watch over you? Who will be there to ease your discomfort, to warm your bed- really?” he couldn’t keep going, “The robots are fucking each other? Is that even appropriate? And why do we really need to know?”

Rhys decidedly didn’t answer any of his questions and instead he lightly smacked him on the arm, “Just go on with it! Stop being such a snob.” he said in a chastising tone, breaking character momentarily. 

Vaughn made a big show of rolling his eyes, “Ugh, fine.” he grumbled, “Who will be there to ease your discomfort, to warm your bed and raise the heavy weight that heaves upon your soul. Who will be there to keep you sane and safe.”

Rhys laughed, “You sound kind of stiff there.” he quipped, nudging against Vaughn unconsciously as he scooted a little bit closer. The shorter male blushed at the proximity between them and fidgeted nervously with his legs a bit. Vaughn chuckled in kind, mainly apologetic in his tone as he tried to accurately explain himself. “Heh, yeah… sorry this isn’t really my thing. I mean, I want to help you it’s just- this is all very weird to me.”

“It’s okay. We’re almost done with this scene anyways.” Rhys had a small, secret smile on his face directed towards Vaughn before he went back to his lines in the play, “You must learn to ease your own sorrows, dear Ophelia, you must learn to care for yourself when I leave you behind.” he looked up from his paper and smiled with humor, “You know, your right. It is a little- okay it’s really campy.” 

Vaughn looked almost vindicated, “See?” he exclaimed in a victorious sort of way.

“I still like it.” Rhys hummed, his body language suddenly turning shy and reticent. “I, I can’t thank you enough for helping me on this.” the taller male said, “Especially considering how much you despise this play.” he quipped softly, as an afterthought. “No but really, man. You saved my ass.”

“Oh,” Vaughn exclaimed dumbly, “It’s really not a big deal, Rhys. It’s not like I had any plans or anything…”

“But it is,” The brunette stated emphatically, suddenly grabbing Vaughn’s hands and squeezing them with an earnest sort of excitement. “It’s a big deal to me. This is really important to me and I’m so glad that you were here for me, is all I’m saying.” Rhys coughed awkwardly, “Anyway, let’s keep going.”

“Oh, do you want to go over the other stuff one more time?” Vaughn flipped through the pages, looking back in an attempt to go back to where they started. “I think we’ve already done everything…” he was so wrapped up in the paper in front of him that he didn’t notice Rhys shyly reaching out to him.

“Um, no…well, I mean maybe we should go over it a couple more times.” The brunette said, “But there’s one more thing at the end of this scene that we haven’t done. Ophelia and Soren share a goodbye kiss to punctuate… things. Whatever, it’s a kiss. I figure if I’m going to practice the scene, I, well we should go over the whole thing, right? I mean, that makes sense I think.”

Vaughn really did not expect to hear that come out of Rhys’ mouth, it was probably the last thing that he expected to hear from him. “Uhh…”

Rhys panicked a little bit at the shorter teens hesitance, “If you don’t want to it’s perfectly fine! I’m not trying to peer pressure you or… anything” he babbled out quickly, his voice getting quieter and quieter with each word he spoke. 

Rhys nervously covered his face in his hands and rubbed his eyes to destimulate himself. Vaughn was completely unsure what to do, so he ended up closing the distance between them and kissing Rhys. The whole thing was just so awkward, neither of them were expecting it, and even though Vaughn had been the one to initiate the contact it felt to him like he was even less prepared for the kiss than Rhys was.

“S-so that’s the scene.” Vaughn mumbled as he pulled back from the kiss, “Sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” Rhys replied cocking his head to the side in confusion at Vaughn’s seemingly out of nowhere remorse. “You don’t need to be sorry. I asked you to kiss me, remember?” he smiled in a friendly way, hoping to put the blonde at ease for the moment.

“Well, I uh, I thought you’d probably rather be kissing someone else…” Vaughn confessed.

Rhys faltered, “Why would I want to be kissing someone else?”

“Because I’m a dork?” 

In that moment, Rhys realized what Vaughn had been trying to convey and he was quick to do some damage control. “Vaughn you have to know that I’ve had a crush on you all year. I mean… I thought I was being pretty obvious about it.” he said, looking at Vaughn like they had been making a joke for a really long time and now it was becoming tired and played out. “Why do you think I’ve been coming to you for tutoring?”

“Well, I thought you needed help with your maths?” He was starting to feel like kind of an idiot. 

“I have a 4.0 GPA. I don’t need any help in academics.” Rhys deadpanned, “I dunno… I just wanted to talk to you and you’re so aloof so I-” he frowned, cutting off his own train of thought as if he had just realized something. “Should I not have done that? Was that manipulative or something? I didn’t mean to manipulate you or anything like that, I just wanted to spend time with you. Now I feel kind of shitty. Please say something back. I can taste how awkward it is in here!”

“Wait-” Vaughn said, just to make sure that he was hearing Rhys correctly, “you, you have a crush on me?” It didn’t seem likely to him. He felt like he had to be hearing Rhys wrong, or misinterpreting what he was saying or, – worst case scenario – it was a practical joke at his expense. 

“Really I do! Of course I do!” The taller male exclaimed in a bubbly and excited tone, interrupting him with a happy smile gracing his face. “Why wouldn’t I like you about that, man? You’re so cool…” he leaned in and kissed Vaughn again, this time on the cheek and then once more on the lips. 

The shorter male was so stunned by the display of affection that he couldn’t do much more than sit frozen, barely responding to the contact. Rhys had the decency to blush as he pulled back from the chaste kiss, “I’m sorry. Was that too much?”

“No!” He blurted out a little too loud in response. Vaughn coughed awkwardly at himself. “I mean, no of course not, I just…you think I’m cool?” Vaughn doesn’t think that he’s ever been called cool in his life. It’s kind of an ego trip for him to think about.

“Yeah dude.” Rhys hummed, “I think you’re cool. So cool, that I can’t help but kiss you again.” he made sure that the next time they kissed, Vaughn was ready for it. He was so delighted by this new revelation that he wasn't even bothered by the fact that he'd probably be running lines with Rhys for the rest of the year.


End file.
